Discovery's international
crew spent a busy day in orbit preparing for the major events ahead,
a first time docking with the International Space Station late tonight
and a spacewalk late Saturday night.

With the Shuttle trailing the
station by less than 500 nautical miles and moving closer every orbit,
Commander Kent Rominger twice fired Discovery's steering jets to fine
tune the Shuttle's approach to the new station. The engine firings were
the first in a series that will culminate in a docking with the station
planned for 11:24 p.m. Central time today. Down on Discovery's middeck,
Flight Engineer Ellen Ochoa and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette opened
the tunnel and hatches leading to the Spacehab module in the payload
bay. Spacehab is loaded with equipment, clothes and food to be stored
aboard the new orbital outpost. Later, Payette and Russian cosmonaut
Valery Tokarev temporarily stowed some equipment in the module to free
up room in Discovery's cabin.

In preparation for Saturday's
spacewalk, astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry, assisted by Payette
and Pilot Rick Husband, successfully tested three spacesuits aboard
Discovery. All of the equipment was found to be in excellent condition
and ready for the spacewalk, during which Jernigan and Barry will install
both U.S. and Russian-built cranes to the station for use by future
astronaut construction crews.

Ochoa and Payette also tested
the Shuttle's 50-foot robot arm and used it to conduct a television
survey of Discovery's payload bay. Jernigan and Ochoa extended the outer
ring of Discovery's Orbiter Docking System in a successful test of the
mechanism which will make the first contact with and capture a similar
mechanism in the Pressurized Mating Adapter affixed to the ISS's Unity.

Before beginning their presleep
period, the astronauts lowered Discovery's cabin pressure as a precursor
to Jernigan and Barry breathing pure oxygen tomorrow night in advance
of their spacewalk. This protocol helps to purge nitrogen from their
bloodstreams, preventing any adverse effects from the vacuum of space
during their excursion into Discovery's payload bay.

The crew will begin an abbreviated
7 ½ hour sleep period at 8:50 a.m. Central time today and will
be awakened at 4:20 p.m. to begin preparations for rendezvous and docking.

Discovery is orbiting at an
altitude of 230 statute miles, with all of its systems operating normally.

The next STS-96 mission status
report is scheduled to be issued at 6 p.m. Central time, or as events
warrant.